Denise Sullivan

Denise Sullivan is an American music journalist, historian, and author of visionary music biographies like Shaman's Blues: The Art and Influences Behind Jim Morrison and the Doors, as well as the critically acclaimed music-history book, Keep on Pushing: Black Power Music from Blues to Hip Hop. Kirkus Reviews calls it "A welcome exploration of how African American popular music became America's vernacular."

A California-based freelance writer since 1991, from 2007-2011 she was a columnist and features writer for the online incarnation of Crawdaddy! the first US rock magazine to cover the music through a social and political lens in the 1960s. Sullivan first began writing music journalism for her high school newspaper in Cupertino, California. A media studies graduate of the University of San Francisco, she was a founding staff member of radio station KUSF. After working several jobs in the music industry, from DJ and publicist, to marketing manager and touring with bands, she brought her unique insider perspective to music journalism. She has lived in San Francisco, Atlanta and Los Angeles, and has contributed to newspapers, books, magazines and web resources, from The San Francisco Chronicle and The All Music Guide, to Rolling Stone. Her books include The White Stripes: Sweethearts of the Blues, R.E.M. Talk About The Passion, and Rip It Up! Rock'n'Roll Rulebreakers. Shaman's Blues: The Art and Influences Behind Jim Morrison and the Doors (Sumach-Red, 2014) is her fifth music title.

"Denise Sullivan represents the insider intellectual stamina of rock n roll journalism without the pomp and pretense. She is the past and future of the form, rolled into one uncanny style." --Pop Matters, 2012